For mobile professionals, poor battery life from a device is
the ultimate enemy to staying connected on the go. Everyone wants longer
battery life from phones, laptops and cameras.

Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS
in Erlangen have teamed up with scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for
Physical Measurement Techniques IPM and the Fraunhofer Institute for
Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research IFAM to devise a way
to power electronic circuits by using body heat.

The researchers were able to construct a method of turning
body heat into electricity using the same principal as thermoelectric
generators (TEG) made from semi-conductor elements. TEGs extract electricity
from the temperature difference between a hot and cold environment.

Researchers from Fraunhofer say that typically a temperature
difference of several tens of degrees is needed, but that the temperature
difference between the body and the environment is only a few degrees.

That means that with such a small temperature difference,
the amount of electricity generated is very low voltage. The TEG can deliver
200 millivolts when most electronics require one or two volts to operate.

“We combined a number of components in a completely new way
to create circuits that can operate on 200 millivolts,” says Peter Spies,
manager of this sub-project at the IIS. “This has enabled us to build entire
electronic systems that do not require an internal battery, but draw their
energy from body heat alone.”

With all the current recalls on batteries from Nokia and the huge recall last
year of Sony made notebook batteries, alternative
methods of powering electronic devices are a huge area of research. Whether
this body heat power technology works or not, it is only a matter of time
before consumers can stop depending on batteries and move to fuel cells and other methods of getting power for electronic
devices.

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

The point being made, is not that it is scientifically impossible, but that it is scientifically a very inefficient approach. Much easier and much more efficient is to brew alcohol or manuf. gases and use these as energy sources.

The Island's concept of using humans for "body parts" is a much more plausible and scientific approach to the misuse of humans.

Ok that's what I was trying to get at. I was waiting for the response. If the point was really on the efficiency of the conversion. The energy input required to "farm" the humans and even to produce the "food energy" required to keep them living would probably be much greater than the output. But it's a Sci-Fi movie and they can simply say that the machines have discovered more efficient ways of harnessing that power. :)

As other methods of deriving energy then yes you could argue that their resources would be better used converting energy that required less input and yeilded more output. Without sun you're really limited in energy sources and chemical energy is the most viable.

If the machines didn't need us for energy then it wouldn't have made for much of a movie about enslaved humans. :) It is just a movie after all.

That bugged me every single time I watched the movie - using humans for power is inherently inefficient, because our bodies are using the inputs for lots of other stuff, like keeping us alive. Still, it made for a great story.

Yes, I know. In the 3rd movie they say that the machines can survive without the people but it just wouldn't be pleasant. But if they have fusion, then why do they need the humans again? Presumably there's some reason that it can't provide them enough power, but choosing humans for their boost just seems stupid. They've got to be feeding us with some sort of biological food substance - wouldn't simply burning whatever they're giving us be more efficient than feeding us, maintaining our bodies, and creating the matrix to contain us? Anyway, it's science fiction and they had to come up with some sort of way to explain the background story. Maybe they've genetically engineered us to live by feeding us plastic waste products, or something... Sure they could have gotten bacteria to do it, but they wanted to humiliate us.

quote: Just so. Unfortunately, that was without a doubt the most scientifically ridiculous part of an otherwise great movie.

I couldn't agree more. Why use us when you have far better and simpler alternatives from nuclear sources?

But the point of the machines using us was to PUNISH us. The only debatable arguement for that was they saved us by keeping us alive. The matrix they created is a pretty pimp place if I do say so myself ;)

I always wondered, if they had the technology to grow humans artificially, and were as smart as they say they were, then why not just genetically engineer a biomass that just generated power. A giant electric-eel type organism that didn't require the massive computing power that running the matrix would have required. Engineer it to give off hydrogen as a byproduct and the thing will produce energy and fuel at the same time!

But to get back on track, I would think this would work for wrist watches and the like but I don't know if I see it being of much use in cell phones or the like yet. Might get MP3 players that low.

I think the wrist watch would be the first use for this technology since the temperature differential would be the greatest on your arm since it is exposed most of the time.

They could probably design something like the arm warmers used by road bicyclists or a long sleeve T-shirt to capture that energy. Runners could power their electronics on cool days by using running tights with the same technology.

This would be great for all athletes when training in the winter months where the temperature differential would be the greatest and you always needd to carry lights while exercising in the dark. "Body Powered Headlights"